Young man with cerebral palsy creates miracle thanks to mother's love

A Chinese young man born with cerebral palsy has achieved above and beyond even the able-bodied people, thanks to the unremitting hard efforts and deep love from his mother.

Ding Ding, 29, made it to Peking University 10 years ago and then obtained a master's degree in law from Harvard University this August.

Born in Jinzhou of central China's Hubei Province, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy yet luckily without intelligence damages due to intrauterine asphyxia.

To grab each minute of the "golden period" from age three to six for motor nerve rehabilitation, his mother Zou Hongyan started taking him to hospital for the treatment and exercises ever since he reached three.

While sticking to her work, the mother never missed for a single time her son's rehabilitative treatment every two days.

"Back at that time, the treatment was rather simple with quite poor conditions. The kid felt so much pain and he cried every day. It was so hard to stick to the treatment every two days over the 365 days of a whole year, and he improved at an extremely slow pace," said Zou.

"I remember the last step was called 'rolling skin', that is to pull the skin on the back like this bit by bit and then release it, repeating time and time again. It was to stimulate the backbone nerves and then promote development of the brain. So the doctor said it must be conducted with much force and hurt you very, very much," Ding Ding recalled his treatment.

All the efforts and pain of the mother and the son paid off, as Ding Ding managed to walk stably at four, learned how to jump at five and half and then entered primary school at seven.

"He has suffered so much, compared with other kids. For me, he was just a little bit slower than others, but all the skills he has learned, even those a piece of cake for others, may have taken him 10 or even 100 times of efforts," said the mother.

In October, Ding Ding successfully found a position with a big company as a legal adviser -- an achievement so encouraging for many youngsters with similar conditions.

"I thought he was a single case, but later found out there were not merely one or two but a whole group just like him. I feel so sorry for them. They tried, underwent treatment but gave up in the end, which is a great pity.

"So I think, maybe we can tell our story through the media to the public, so that we can bring these kids and their family some encouragement, some support and some faith, to encourage them to carry on," Zou said.